From my view and my experience, most Jewish people do not understand the different Christian groups. So, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Episcopalian are all the same with no perceived difference. Since some of these groups have engaged in anti-semitism, that means to many Jewish people, Christianity is basically anti-semitic. It is believed that individuals might not be anti-semitic, but Christianity is anti-semitic. The term has baggage. Plus the term is meaningless or misunderstood in the Jewish community. Christ is not a Jewish term. It loses the very basis of the belief, that Yeshua is the Messiah prophesied in the Tenakh.
All terms can have baggagem, from Christian (meaning "Follower of Christ") to "Torah Observance" (which is not a bad thing in/of itself and yet it has been abused by many in certain Hebrew Roots groups that Jews are offended by it) or even "Muslim" (as the term in its simple form means "Submitted to God")....and even the term "Messianic", in light of how many think of certain camps in the MJish movement that seemed to despise anything Gentile/felt all things had to be "Jewish" in culture/design in order to be acceptable before the Lord, counter to what many non-believing Jews had experienced when they had Gentile friends/family whom they enjoyed seeing in their Gentile lifestyles and did not look upon them while they themselves looked upon their own Jewish heritage.
The amount of Jewish believers really bothered by many in the MJish camp who mistreated them for not treating Gentiles as Jewish and not living like "Israel" should..it is truly saddening, no more different than the groups who claimed to be "True Jews" (like
the Black Israelities or those with Britain who claim all Caucasians are the true Jews discussed from before) and gave even that a bad name since they were for Philio-Semitism and mistreated real Jews in the name of the Lord.
But just because a term has been hijacked/misused does not mean it must be discarded forever...as terms can be redeemed. No matter how many times people abuse the term "Black Culture" to justify a HOST of evils done in the name of it (i.e. gang violence, sexualization of women, thug antics, etc), I do not say that it's now a bad thing for someone to say to others they need to value/love Black culture because they may possibly see where it has been thrown off. For the term is innocent and should not be punished.....and the same goes for "Christian" as well as "Messianic" and many others, IMHO.
From a non-Messianic Jewish perspective, proselytizing means to try to convert a person to a different religion. Of course, that is viewed as the worst thing because it steels a Jewish soul. However, Jesus is the Messiah prophesied in the Tenakh, and therefore is not foreign but in reality, all Jewish people should believe on the Jewish Messiah. Messianic Judaism is about sharing the news of Yeshua with the Jewish people.
There is a Christian Zionist group called Christians United for Israel. They hold meetings, and take donations for various causes for Israel. They want both Christians (the donators) and Jewish people to attend together. They have Jewish style music, talk about Israel, and have a teaching for both. But, in order for the Jewish people to attend, they wanted to be sure that no one would share the gospel at these meetings. At the start, the leader of this group went to the various Rabbis. It was quite a discussion as the Jewish community did not trust this Pastor. In the process, the Pastor proclaimed to the Jewish leadership that the Pastor believed that the Jewish people had a covenant with God. That this Pastor did not believe that the Jewish people needed to hear the gospel and would not share the gospel with the Jewish people. And that if the Rabbis would teach the Jewish people about the law and Judaism, then no Jewish person would ever be interested in Christianity. The group forbids any believer from sharing the gospel with Jewish people at their meetings. (This is very unbiblical as scripture says all have fallen short and that there is only one way to God, thru Jesus). They are saying that there is not only no evidence that even a single Jewish person has 'converted' at their meetings, but that there is evidence these meeting serve to prevent Jewish people from believing. Messianic Jews are not encouraged to attend these meetings, as the Jewish community does not want Messianic Jews there.
Sadly, what you noted here is something supported by default with many circles within MJism that emphasize the Obervance of Torah...even going so far as to say that it doesn't matter that Christ came to do that which the Torah could not do (As it concerns salvation) and
even saying that what truly makes one saved is Torah Observance....concluding that the Jews themselves can be saved apart from CHRIST since they are obviously keeping a Covenant that was "good enough"/meant to be walked in for all time. It's essentially speaking out of both sides of the mouth, as other MJish believers have noted---for one cannot complain on the Torah with claims of "DIdn't CHrist say the Law would remain forever!!!!!!!" or "God doesn't make mistakes in Covenant!!!!!" whenever there's a desire to tell others that not observing Mosaic Covenant means one's lost------and then say Christ came to offer forgiveness of the consequences of disobediance and then STILL ignore where the logic means that Jewish people don't need to be evangelized since they live out the Mosaic Covenant to the best of their ability/feel that it's valid enough.
For many, what they note is that it's either Christ/His Blood that offers salvation to all men, with the Torah itself not being the means of salvation, or it's Mosaic Covenant that offers salvation and Christ simply came to take away the consquences.....leading to a form of Universalism in its ultimate form. Many Messianic Jews have noted this repeatedly whenever other Gentiles have tried to correct Gentiles they felt were not "Torah Observant" enough for approval before the Lord...and pointed out that if Torah Observanance was enough, they would have stayed/remainded as unbelieving Jews....
The group you're describing, "Christians United for Israel", is noble in their goal to support the Israeli state at all costs and pray for Jerusalem. But indeed, what they and their pastor do (John Hagee) is very anti-Christ since even Christ noted to the Jewish people that they needed His blood/Grace to find salvation---and no amount of Torah observance would ever be enough to merit one into the Kingdom. Nicodemus was told that plainly in John 3 and its interesting to see how many times what Christ said is reversed when trying so much to appeal to others loving Law......
I'm thankful others have called out John Hagee with what he discussed called Dual Covenant Theology/his version of Universalism. And other Messianics have given it alot of serious addressment thankfully. In example:
...
As Messianic Jew, Dr.Michael Brown, said best when discussing the reality of how many try to deify the Jewish people without realizing that they will also be lost no matter what their heritage may be:
"What would happen to a Nazi murderer who believed in Jesus before he died? Would he go to heaven, while Jewish men, women and children he killed, many of whom were God fearing people, would go to hell?"
Answer: “Based on the teaching of the Hebrew Bible, if the Nazi could truly repent before he died, then God would accept him as righteous. But merely ‘believing’ -- without true repentance -- is meaningless. As for the Jews killed by that Nazi, if they died in right relationship with God, then they would go to heaven; if they died out of favor with Him, they would perish. One thing is very important to remember: The fact that these Jews died in the Holocaust does not necessarily make them ‘saints’ (even though we often speak of the six million Jewish ‘martyrs’ of the Holocaust). Our people were indiscriminately exterminated by the Nazis simply because of their ethnic background -- even if they were total atheists or God-haters. Their tragic suffering in the Holocaust did not, in and of itself, transform them into godly people. To the contrary, many actually lost their faith during that time, while a large number of secular and irreligious Jews became overtly hostile to God.” (See
Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 1, pp. 35-42.)
Everyone has to go through Yeshua, as He is the Gate--but I wonder often what to make of it when the apostles often noted that those who have heard of Yeshua in this life/reject Him to keep Torah can never be saved (
Acts 28:27 )..and I have to consider the numerous Messianic Jews who noted the only reason they ever came to Christ was because others either showed them the LOVE OF Christ/compassion or made them realize they'd NEVER be good enough by their own merit/effort to be secure with the Lord, the entire reason why CHrist came. They love Torah/discussing it, but it was never their focus as it concerns sanctification since it was never what kept them alone....and if that meant being rejected by others in the Jewish communities as somehow hating God's Holy Law (which was untrue) and being identified with Christians who also discuss the grace of Christ, they were willing to do so.
... the Jewish communities objection to Messianic Judaism is that Messianic Judaism believes on Jesus. If the Jewish communities complaint against Messianic Judaism is we believe all people (and all Jewish people) need Yeshua, then we are actually in a good situation. That means we have not muddied the waters with the wrong message.
